One or more information maps are obtained by an agricultural work machine. The one or more information maps map one or more agricultural characteristic values at different geographic locations of a field. An in-situ sensor on the agricultural work machine senses an agricultural characteristic as the agricultural work machine moves through the field. A predictive map generator generates a predictive map that predicts a predictive agricultural characteristic at different locations in the field based on a relationship between the values in the one or more information maps and the agricultural characteristic sensed by the in-situ sensor. The predictive map can be output and used in automated machine control.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An agricultural work machine, comprising: a controllable subsystem; a communication system that receives an information map that includes values of a first agricultural characteristic corresponding to different geographic locations in a field; a geographic position sensor that detects a geographic location of the agricultural work machine; an in-situ sensor that detects a value of a second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a first geographic location in the field, the second agricultural characteristic comprising a characteristic of harvested material; one or more processors; memory storing computer executable instructions, executable by the one or more processor, the computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, configuring the one or more processors to: identify a predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a second geographic location in the field based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location in the field; and control the controllable subsystem based on the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic and based on the detected geographic location of the agricultural work machine.
2. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the one or more processors to: identify a relationship between the first agricultural characteristic and the second agricultural characteristic based on the value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location; and identify the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location in the field based on the identified relationship and based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the second geographic location.
3. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the in-situ sensor detects, as the value of the second agricultural characteristic, a value of a size of a component of a crop plant in the harvested material.
4. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the in-situ sensor detects, as the value of the second agricultural characteristic, a kernel size characteristic value of a kernel in the harvested material or a value of a characteristic of an ear, head, or pod in the harvested material.
5. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the information map comprises a seed genotype map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, seed genotype values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field.
6. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the information map comprises a vegetative index map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, vegetative index values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field.
7. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the information map comprises a yield map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, yield values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field.
8. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the information map comprises a biomass map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, biomass values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field.
9. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the communication system receives, as the information map, a first information map that includes the values of the first agricultural characteristic and a second information map that includes values of a third agricultural characteristic corresponding to different locations in the field, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the one or more processors to identify the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic based on the value of the first agricultural characteristic in the first information map corresponding to the first geographic location, based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location in the field, and based on a value of the third agricultural characteristic in the second information map corresponding to the first geographic location in the field.
10. The agricultural work machine of claim 1, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises a crop processing system.
11. A computer implemented method of controlling an agricultural work machine, the computer implemented method comprising: obtaining an information map that includes values of a first agricultural characteristic corresponding to different geographic locations in a field; detecting a geographic location of the agricultural work machine; detecting, with an in-situ sensor, a value of a second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a first geographic location in the field, the second agricultural characteristic comprising a characteristic of harvested material; identifying a predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a second geographic location in the field based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location in the field; and controlling a controllable subsystem of the agricultural work machine based on the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic and based on the detected geographic location of the agricultural work machine.
12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 and further comprising: identifying a relationship between the first agricultural characteristic and the second agricultural characteristic based on the value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location, wherein identifying the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location in the field comprises identifying the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location in the field based on the identified relationship and based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the second geographic location.
13. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein detecting, with the in-situ sensor the value of the second agricultural characteristic comprises detecting, with the in-situ sensor, a value of a size of a component of a crop plant in the harvested material.
14. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein detecting, with the in-situ sensor, the value of the second agricultural characteristic comprises detecting, with the in-situ sensor, a kernel size value of kernels in the harvested material or detecting, with the in-situ sensor, a value of a characteristic of one or more of ears, heads, and pods in the harvested material.
15. The computer implemented method of claim 11 wherein obtaining the information map comprises obtaining, as the information map, a first information map that includes the values of the first agricultural characteristic, the computer implemented method further comprising obtaining a second information map that includes values of a third agricultural characteristic corresponding to different locations in the field, wherein identifying the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location comprises identifying the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location based on the value of the first agricultural characteristic in the first information map corresponding to the first geographic location, based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location in the field, and based on a value of the third agricultural characteristic in the second information map corresponding to the first geographic location in the field.
16. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the communication system obtains, as the information map, one of: a seed genotype map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, seed genotype values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field; a vegetative index map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, vegetative index values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field; a yield map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, yield values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field; or a biomass map that includes, as the values of the first agricultural characteristic, biomass values corresponding to the different geographic locations in the field.
17. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein controlling the controllable subsystem comprises controlling a crop processing system of the agricultural work machine based on the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic and based on the detected geographic location of the agricultural work machine.
18. An agricultural system, comprising: a controllable subsystem; a communication system that receives an information map that includes values of a first agricultural characteristic corresponding to different geographic locations in a field; a geographic position sensor that detects a geographic location of an agricultural work machine; an in-situ sensor that detects a value of a second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a first geographic location in the field, the second agricultural characteristic comprising a characteristic of harvested material; one or more processors; memory storing computer executable instructions, executable by the one or more processor, the computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, configuring the one or more processors to: identify a predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to a second geographic location in the field based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location in the field; and control the controllable subsystem based on the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic and based on the detected geographic location of the agricultural work machine.
19. The agricultural system of claim 18, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the one or more processors to: identify a relationship between the first agricultural characteristic and the second agricultural characteristic based on the value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the first geographic location and based on the value of the second agricultural characteristic detected by the in-situ sensor corresponding to the first geographic location; and identify the predictive value of the second agricultural characteristic corresponding to the second geographic location in the field based on the identified relationship and based on a value of the first agricultural characteristic in the information map corresponding to the second geographic location.
20. The agricultural system of claim 18, wherein the value of the second agricultural characteristic comprises a value of a size of a component of a crop plant in the harvested material.
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September 28, 2023
June 17, 2025
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